North and South

North and South, by Elizabeth
Cleghorn Gaskell

The Project Gutenberg eBook, North and South, by Elizabeth Cleghorn
Gaskell
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

Title: North and South
Author: Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

Release Date: July, 2003 [Etext #4276] [This file was first posted on
December 26, 2001] [Most recently updated: December 12, 2006]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NORTH
AND SOUTH***
E-text prepared by Charles Aldarondo

NORTH AND SOUTH
by
ELIZABETH GASKELL
First published in serial form in Household Words in 1854-1855 and in
volume form in 1855.

VOLUME I
On its appearance in 'Household Words,' this tale was obliged to
conform to the conditions imposed by the requirements of a weekly
publication, and likewise to confine itself within certain advertised
limits, in order that faith might be kept with the public. Although these
conditions were made as light as they well could be, the author found it
impossible to develope the story in the manner originally intended, and,
more especially, was compelled to hurry on events with an improbable
rapidity towards the close. In some degree to remedy this obvious
defect, various short passages have been inserted, and several new
chapters added. With this brief explanation, the tale is commended to
the kindness of the reader;
'Beseking hym lowly, of mercy and pite, Of its rude makyng to have
compassion.'
CHAPTER I
'HASTE TO THE WEDDING'
'Wooed and married and a'.'
'Edith!' said Margaret, gently, 'Edith!'
But, as Margaret half suspected, Edith had fallen asleep. She lay curled

up on the sofa in the back drawing-room in Harley Street, looking very
lovely in her white muslin and blue ribbons. If Titania had ever been
dressed in white muslin and blue ribbons, and had fallen asleep on a
crimson damask sofa in a back drawing-room, Edith might have been
taken for her. Margaret was struck afresh by her cousin's beauty. They
had grown up together from childhood, and all along Edith had been
remarked upon by every one, except Margaret, for her prettiness; but
Margaret had never thought about it until the last few days, when the
prospect of soon losing her companion seemed to give force to every
sweet quality and charm which Edith possessed. They had been talking
about wedding dresses, and wedding ceremonies; and Captain Lennox,
and what he had told Edith about her future life at Corfu, where his
regiment was stationed; and the difficulty of keeping a piano in good
tune (a difficulty which Edith seemed to consider as one of the most
formidable that could befall her in her married life), and what gowns
she should want in the visits to Scotland, which would immediately
succeed her marriage; but the whispered tone had latterly become more
drowsy; and Margaret, after a pause of a few minutes, found, as she
fancied, that in spite of the buzz in the next room, Edith had rolled
herself up into a soft ball of muslin and ribbon, and silken curls, and
gone off into a peaceful little after-dinner nap.
Margaret had been on the point of telling her cousin of some of the
plans and visions which she entertained as to her future life in the
country parsonage, where her father and mother lived; and where her
bright holidays had always been passed, though for the last ten years
her aunt Shaw's house had been considered as her home. But in default
of a listener, she had to brood over the change in her life silently as
heretofore. It was a happy brooding, although tinged with regret at
being separated for an indefinite time from her gentle aunt and dear
cousin. As she thought of the delight of filling the important post of
only daughter in Helstone parsonage, pieces of the conversation out of
the next room came upon her ears. Her aunt Shaw was talking to the
five or six ladies who had been dining there, and whose husbands were
still in the dining-room. They were the familiar acquaintances of the
house; neighbours whom Mrs. Shaw called friends, because she
happened to dine with them more frequently than with any other people,

and because if she or Edith wanted anything from them, or they from
her, they did not scruple to make a call at each other's houses before
luncheon. These ladies and their husbands were invited, in their
capacity of friends, to eat a farewell dinner in honour of Edith's
approaching marriage. Edith had rather objected to this arrangement,
for Captain Lennox was expected to arrive by